Memo Fight and the Ambassador Shuffle
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Bartlet confronts C.J. about Steve Onorato's claim that the administration wants to legalize drugs, questioning the basis of the accusation.
C.J. defends the administration's stance with routine media training, but Bartlet remains uneasy about appearing 'soft on drugs'.
Toby and Sam enter, reinforcing C.J.'s argument with historical precedent, creating a united front against Bartlet's hesitation.
Bartlet reveals Leo shared internal polling predictions, exposing divergent expectations between C.J.'s five-point surge forecast and others' more conservative estimates.
Bartlet dismisses C.J. to handle the press briefing about the memo, effectively sidelining the drug policy debate in favor of political pragmatism.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Professional composure with underlying pressure — outwardly calm and decisive while internally urgent about protecting the President and staff.
C.J. defends the administration's framing, insists the memo is a routine thirty‑year template, accepts Bartlet's order to give a simple line to the press, and physically moves between Outer Oval and Oval while managing composure.
- • Protect the President's and administration's credibility in public messaging.
- • Contain the tabloid allegation by reducing it to a routine talking point.
- • The memo is a standard historical template, not a substantive policy confessional.
- • Clear, consistent press lines prevent escalation and protect careers.
Calmly professional — alert to the sudden assignment but not flustered, slightly out of depth regarding Cochran's identity.
Charlie greets Bartlet and C.J. in the Outer Oval, receives a high‑five from C.J., and is later tasked with locating Ambassador Cochran and arranging his transport, demonstrating his role as the President's logistical executor.
- • Execute the President's order swiftly and accurately.
- • Confirm the ambassador's location and ensure transport arrangements are initiated.
- • Orders from the Oval require immediate, precise logistical follow‑through.
- • Protocol and speed are essential to limit exposure and satisfy executive needs.
Focused and pragmatic; anxious beneath a professional calm, channeling personal concern into calculated maneuvering.
Toby enters, supports the messaging line, then pivots into techno‑political problem‑solving with Sam — identifying diplomatic targets and arguing for a tactical personnel solution to remove exposure while preserving institutional cover.
- • Protect the President and administration from an optics crisis.
- • Engineer a plausible, non‑scandalous personnel explanation to remove Ambassador Cochran.
- • Language and personnel moves are the levers that control political fallout.
- • A routinized bureaucratic solution (promotion/transfer) is preferable to public scandal.
Energetic and confident, eager to solve the problem and preserve the administration's standing.
Sam briskly proposes the promotion chain—promote Cochran to Paraguay and bump others up—identifies the Bulgarian affair as the lever, and frames the personnel move as practical politics rather than moral judgement.
- • Find a graceful, operational fix to remove Cochran without public humiliation.
- • Protect colleagues and the President by converting scandal into routine personnel adjustments.
- • Bureaucratic shuffling can neutralize scandal and preserve appearances.
- • Political problems are often solved through creative, nonpublic trades.
Steve Onorato is not physically present, but his tabloid‑style memo functions as the catalytic allegation; he is the named antagonist …
Ambassador Ken Cochran is offstage but central: he is identified as the diplomat implicated in an alleged affair and becomes …
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The conference room outer doors mark entrances and exits: characters enter through the colonnade and the doors close behind C.J. when she leaves to brief the press, signaling the transition from private counsel to public action and sealing the decision in the Oval.
Steve Onorato's tabloid memo is the catalytic object referenced repeatedly; it functions as the ostensible 'evidence' forcing the meeting, framing the debate over legalization, and compelling the administration to adopt a concise public message and execute personnel moves.
The Outer Oval Office cup of tea appears as a staging prop when Bartlet sits with a cup; it underscores the domestic, intimate tone of the Oval conversation and gives Bartlet a small, humanized action while he orchestrates decisions.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Oval Office is the battleground for the meeting where message discipline is enforced and personnel trades are conceived; it contains the President's authority and frames the decisions as presidential orders that must be implemented.
The Outer Oval Office functions as the arrival and staging zone: Bartlet and C.J. walk through the colonnade into the residence and meet Charlie there before entering the Oval, establishing the domestic, backstage character of the exchange.
The U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria is invoked as Ken Cochran's likely physical location and the origin point for the scandal; it provides the logistical locus for Charlie's task to find and repatriate Cochran.
Pohnpei (Federated States of Micronesia) is mentioned during the discussion about where U.S. embassies are located, grounding an argument about why the President can't simply fire Cochran and showing staff's geographic literacy informs personnel options.
Paraguay is named as the destination in Sam's promotion‑shuffle plan — a bureaucratic sink where reputational heat can be redirected, making it a practical lever in the personnel maneuver.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Toby's challenge about the asymmetry of question six in the poll leads to the later revelation of divergent expectations about the poll results."
"Bartlet's unease about appearing 'soft on drugs' immediately precedes C.J.'s defense of the White House stance in the press briefing."
"Bartlet's unease about appearing 'soft on drugs' immediately precedes C.J.'s defense of the White House stance in the press briefing."
"Bartlet's unease about appearing 'soft on drugs' immediately precedes C.J.'s defense of the White House stance in the press briefing."
Key Dialogue
"BARTLET: "Talk to the press. Tell them every administration for the past thirty years has generated that memo.""
"C.J.: "I didn't say we'd hold steady at 42, Mr. President. I said we'd gain five points.""
"SAM: "You're not going to fire the ambassador. You're going to promote him.""